‘Oh, my dear Philip, must you behave like a public school boy on his first point of honour? We are all spies here, one way and another. Of course, if your feelings are too nice for the business, you are welcome to go home. But consider a little: it is the peace of the world that is at stake. I suppose you hardly remember what peace is like, and even I, since I was grown up, have only enjoyed that brief breathing space after the Peace of Amiens. And that was more like a pause between rounds than real peace. Surely the sight of the misery here in France means something to you? The beggars in the streets, the starvation, the penury? Have you noticed that you hardly ever see babies or little children? There are no young men, no fathers—’
‘But this is France, sir. They’re the enemy.’
‘Philip, will you never grow up? Do you really think that the Frenchwomen who crowd around the carriages, begging for a sou, a crumb of bread—can you look on them as your enemies? They have suffered from this twenty years’ war far more than we have at home. What English town has suffered as Troyes has? It is for their sake, quite as much as for our own, that we must work for a lasting peace. If I had to spy on my own mother to ensure that, I would do so.’
‘But your mother is dead, sir.’
Denbigh burst into a roar of delighted laughter. ‘Philip, you will be the death of me yet. Don’t worry; I’ll never send you home; you provide me with far too much entertainment. And now, run along and pay your courtesy call. And if you find they have got several Bourbon princes concealed in their attic, mum’s the word; at all costs we must not spy on our friends.’
‘I believe I shall like it here,’ said Sonia. She and Elizabeth were busy arranging their few possessions in the salon of the house they had taken in Châtillon while Charles Vincent turned quickly through the pages of the Moniteur.
‘Even though you are among the dreadful French?’
‘They seem so friendly. You can’t think of Marthe as an enemy, somehow. She adores you, Charles. I can’t think why.’
‘Because I praise her cooking, of course.’
She made a face at him. ‘It’s more than you ever did for mine. What I want to know is, can we afford her?’
‘We can’t have the house without her, so the question is academic. Besides, the town’s as full of diplomats as it can hold—’
‘So we are going to make that El Dorado fortune at last?’
‘I don’t see why not. If you keep your mind on your cards. Oh—I met a friend of yours this morning, Philip Haverton; I doubt if he will wait till tonight to call on you.’
‘Oh, good! He’s just what I need after a course of your crabbing, Charles. And his handsome guardian—does Lord Denbigh intend to call on us too?’
‘That I cannot tell you. He is very much occupied, Haverton tells me, with the business of the conference, since Castlereagh has been at Troyes.’
‘Will he come, Liz, do you think?’ And then, ‘You’re very quiet, love, do you not feel well?’
‘I’m trying to check the inventory of the house, that’s all. Yes, Marthe?’
‘There’s a gentleman below, a M Haverton.’
‘Show him up,’ said Elizabeth, and ‘No Denbigh then,’ said Sonia. But she greeted Haverton like an old friend, let him hold her hand for an extra minute and accepted his carefully selected compliments as her natural due. ‘And now’—she was arranging the flowers he had brought her in a vase—‘tell me all about Châtillon. Shall we like it here, do you think? And more important still, how long must we stay here? When does the march on Paris begin? Surely that formidable guardian of yours must know. Does he intend to visit us, by the way?’
Haverton coloured. ‘He sent his compliments, of course, to you both.’ A glance for Elizabeth, but she was still very much occupied at the other end of the room. ‘As to the march on Paris: I wish I could tell you, but you know I am the merest of hangers-on, my cousin tells me nothing. Mr Vincent, I am sure, knows infinitely more than I do of what goes on in the world.’
‘You think so?’ Vincent put down the Moniteur. ‘Well, it says here that now Napoleon’s in the field he’ll have the Allies back on the Rhine in no time.’
‘But should we believe that?’ asked Sonia. ‘I thought you said even the French now prefer to get their news from England.’
Vincent laughed. ‘Setting up for a politician, Sonia? It’s true that one must take the Moniteur with a grain of salt, but they would not claim victories at Montmirail and Montereau without some grounds. What does your cousin think, Haverton?’
‘He thinks the Allies should have marched on Paris long ago.’
‘He’s right, of course. It was madness to give Napoleon time to assemble a new army. But even so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.’
Sonia sighed impatiently. ‘Time…time. I begin to wonder if we shall ever get to Paris, and as for England… I hardly believe in it anymore.’
‘England,’ said Vincent thoughtfully. ‘Yes, it seems very far away.’
‘Not to me,’ said Haverton. ‘Not now that we can send couriers by way of Paris. It only takes eight days to get an answer. Why, I can even tell you who is playing at Drury Lane.’
‘Just the same,’ said Sonia, ‘I don’t believe it.’
‘What else can you tell us about England?’ asked Vincent. ‘Are they still united against Napoleon?’
‘Oh yes, my cousin says there’s a strong party against even negotiating with him. There’s actually talk of a Bourbon restoration.’ And then, colouring to the eyes, ‘Oh, I believe I should not have said that. I beg you will forget it.’ And he took a somewhat shamefaced leave, promising however to return in the evening.
‘He’s a very silly young man,’ said Elizabeth dispassionately.
‘Is he not?’ Sonia laughed and moved Haverton’s flowers into a corner. ‘Do you know what I think? I believe Lord Denbigh has warned him against us. What do you say, Elizabeth? Oh, she’s gone. Do you know, Charles, I’m worried about her.’
‘Worried? But why?’
‘Charles, you’re impossible. Can you think of nothing but your “affairs of state”? Here you are, living in the same house as Elizabeth and you have never even noticed that she hardly eats a thing—I suspect she doesn’t sleep either—and you wonder why I’m worried.’
‘Leave her alone, Sonia. She’ll come about—I have a great respect for Elizabeth—too great a one to harass her with my concern.’
‘Oh! So I’m in the wrong as usual. I might have known it. I can only say, if that’s your idea of respect, heaven preserve me from your affection!’
He merely picked up the Moniteur. ‘Do you want to know what Marie Louise wore to the opera the other night?’
‘No, I do not. Do you imagine, because I am a woman. I think of nothing but dress?’
‘What has become of young Haverton?’ asked Vincent some ten days later. ‘It seems to me I have not seen him ogling you for a week or more, Sonia. Has your magic ceased to work on him, do you think?’
‘What a brute you are, Charles.’ Sonia said it amicably enough. ‘It’s quite true, Philip hasn’t been near me for all of a week. I expect that fierce cousin of his has forbidden him our house. What do you think, Elizabeth?’
‘I think you talk a great deal of nonsense. And it is time I went to see Marthe.’ She was rising to leave the room when Vincent stopped her. ‘One moment; there was something I wanted to ask you. Would you have any objection to our having a small party tonight?’
‘A party? But do we not every night?’
‘Are you so weary of it? I’m sorry… But tonight I thought of something rather different. Could we not invite our guests for a change?’
‘Instead of just letting them happen,’ said Sonia. ‘Why not? And who are you going to ask, Charles?’
‘Philip Haverton among others. Will you have any objection to that?’
‘Not the least in the world, so long as he comes.’
‘Oh, he’ll come all right; I’m sure of that
. It must be merely some point of punctilio that keeps him away.’
‘And you mind it for my sake? How good you are to me, Charles.’ She dropped him a mocking curtsy.
Under Vincent’s direction, the wine flowed fast and freely that night. He had brought home a curiously miscellaneous collection of guests, among them, to Elizabeth’s irritated surprise, the young Russians who had behaved so badly at Frankfurt. ‘They have come to ask your forgiveness,’ he explained in an audible aside that made it impossible for her to welcome them anything but kindly. She was surprised, too, that he delayed settling the party down to the card tables that always stood ready at the far end of the room. Or—was she surprised?
He had led the conversation, now, to the subject of Bernadotte, whose Army of the North was making so unaccountably snail-like an approach on Paris. ‘But I must not criticise him to you’—this to the youngest of the Russians. ‘I believe your Emperor has a great opinion of him.’
‘The Czar—God bless him? Yes—back in Freiburg a friend of mine heard him tell the King of Prussia he would not rest till he had marched on Paris and made Bernadotte Emperor of France.’
‘Nonsense!’ This was an Austrian officer. ‘Can you imagine Unser Franz letting his daughter be turned adrift to make way for Mme Bernadotte? Not to mention his grandson. A regency’s what the French need.’
‘Or the Bourbons?’ This was Vincent, casually.
‘Louis the Undesirable?’ asked the young Russian. ‘You might as well try to make me King of France. The Czar’s just as likely to allow it. The Bourbons had their day twenty years ago.’
Sonia was distracted from this conversation by Haverton’s voice. ‘Miss von Hugel, may I have a word with you?’
‘Why not?’ She let him lead her away from the arguing group to the other end of the room. ‘I did not see you arrive. Indeed, I quite thought you had given us up.’
‘To tell truth, I meant to. But I cannot. I’m ashamed to admit it, but it’s too strong for me. I have tried to keep away—but Vincent’s invitation, today, was too much for my resolution.’
‘Oh? You make it sound as if we had the typhus here, Mr Haverton. Is this household really so dangerous?’
‘I believe so, and, what is more important, so does my cousin.’
‘Your handsome cousin? So that’s why he has never visited us. Is he afraid of losing his money?’
‘You know it’s not that. Miss von Hugel, let me warn you as a friend: you are moving in deep waters. Listen!’ His uplifted hand silenced her and they listened, for a moment, to the babble of voices at the far end of the room. The argument was going fast and furiously now, the Russians insisting that they had not endured the disgrace of Moscow to see a Bourbon restoration, the Austrians upholding the claim of their Archduchess to hold the throne of France for her son, and a lone Prussian maintaining, sotto voce, that only the destruction of Paris could make amends for what had happened to Berlin. ‘You notice,’ went on Haverton after a moment, ‘that Vincent says nothing. He merely listens.’
‘Well,’ Sonia flared up. ‘It wouldn’t be much good saying anything when they are all shouting so.’
‘It’s like you to defend him, but cousin or no cousin, you must face the facts. My cousin says—’
‘I knew it.’ She interrupted him. ‘I told Elizabeth, last time you came, that Lord Denbigh had warned you against us. You had best listen to his warnings, had you not, and stay away?’
‘Miss von Hugel—Sonia—how can you be so cruel? You must know that I love you more than life, more than honour itself—’
‘That is evident enough,’ she said dryly, ‘since you betray your cousin’s confidence to me. I think you had best leave, Mr Haverton, before you say anything else you will regret.’
‘Not till I have finished.’ Now his perseverance had a touch of dignity about it and she listened despite herself. ‘I have told you I love you, Miss von Hugel. You must realise that I want to marry you, to take you away from this den of conspirators. Only say yes, and you shall be in England within the week, this sordid interlude forgotten as if it had never been.’
She swept him a fierce curtsy. ‘You are too good, Mr Haverton, but let me remind you that these conspirators, as you choose to call them, are my dear friends. I do not intend to forget them.’
‘And is that your only answer?’ Lamentably crestfallen now.
‘What more do you want? Should I thank you for the generosity of your offer?’ And then, more gently: ‘I suppose I should. Then, “Thank you, Mr Haverton.” And you will thank me, one of these days, for letting you off so.’
‘Never!’ But she had moved away from him, towards the group at the other end of the room. The tone of the conversation had changed while she had been occupied with Haverton. Now they were discussing the feeling of the town. ‘I don’t like it,’ said an Austrian. ‘When we first arrived, they greeted us almost like liberators, but since these late successes of Napoleon’s things are very different.’
‘It’s true.’ Sonia was glad of the chance to join in. ‘It’s been quite different, the last few days. When we first came, we were pestered by crowds of women, begging. They called down blessings on our heads if we gave them a sou or a few kitchen scraps. Now they crowd around us in a sullen silence that is as bad as threats. One spat on the hem of my gown yesterday.’
‘Nonsense,’ said Charles Vincent. ‘You are imagining things, Sonia.’
‘As usual, I suppose you would say?’
‘Well’—his tone of avuncular tolerance maddened her—‘you said it, Sonia, not I.’ And then, ‘Now, gentlemen, what do you say to a hand of cards?’
Sonia surprised everyone by revoking that night, and was irritated to have Vincent make her excuses. ‘Miss von Hugel is tired, we had best call it a day.’
‘That suits me,’ said the youngest of the Russians. ‘We are making an early start in the morning.’
‘Forward, I hope,’ said Vincent.
The Russian coloured angrily. ‘What do you think? We are going to make Napoleon sorry he was born. Montmirail and Montereau will be remembered for all time as his last victories. Any day now, Blücher’s army will join ours, and then’—he clapped his hands together—‘finish.’
‘Do you go to bed, Liz,’ said Sonia when they were all gone. ‘You have looked exhausted all evening. Charles and I will tidy things here.’ And then, when they were alone, ‘I have just been warned against you, Charles.’
‘Against me? By whom?’
‘Philip Haverton, of course. That cousin he talks of so much has his eye on you—or so he says.’
‘He’s welcome.’ Vincent went on expertly packing wine-glasses on a tray. ‘He does not seem to have stopped young Haverton coming here.’
‘It’s not for lack of trying.’
‘Oh? The attraction was too strong, was it?’
She had not meant to tell him, but his teasing tone was too much for her resolution. ‘If you really want to know, Philip asked me to marry him tonight.’
‘Did he so? I told you I’d make your fortune, Rapunzel.’
‘Charles!’ She whirled to face him. ‘You cannot, for a moment, imagine that I accepted him!’
‘No? But why not? He’s an admirable parti. Yours to command. Young, rich, handsome, as silly as he can hold together and with no particular vices, except a tendency to play high, of which I am sure you could cure him.’
‘Thank you! You flatter me beyond measure. It had not, I take it, crossed your mind that I might not want a husband who was mine to command. Good God, how can you be so stupid! Many Philip Haverton? Why, I would as soon marry you!’
He laughed and picked up a couple of empty wine bottles. ‘But I haven’t asked you, Rapunzel.’
‘Oh, you’re intolerable. I should have known it would be a waste of time to speak to you. But I thought you should be warned.’
‘What? That you are contemplating matrimony?’
‘No, stupid. That Lord Denbigh has his eye
on you. I’m not a fool, Charles, though you choose to treat me as one. I have known—and so has Elizabeth—this long time past that we are not living on our winnings. Or—not solely. The fairy gold goes on coming in, does it not, from that generous cousin of yours? I think it is time you told us what you do in exchange—or for whom you do it. Like it or not, we are involved, Elizabeth and I. Should we not know just what we are involved in?’
‘Nothing you will ever regret, I promise you.’
‘I think we are the best judges of that.’
‘Do you? That’s unfortunate.’
‘You mean, you do not propose to tell me.’
‘Frankly, no. The best way of keeping a secret is—not to know it. ’Specially for a woman.’
‘A woman! I might have known we would come down to that.’
He laughed. ‘Well, you’re not a boy any longer, Rapunzel.’ And then, checking her angry retort, ‘More’s the pity, perhaps. And—thank you for your warning, but believe me, all will be well in the end.’
‘You think so?’ She smiled up at him mischievously. ‘What end, I do wonder?’
‘Time will show. And now, it’s long past your bedtime, Rapunzel, and I have letters to write.’
‘To that cousin of yours, no doubt. Telling him everything our guests said tonight. Sometimes, Charles, you make me sick. To hear you pumping those simple young Russians—I tell you, I was hard put to it not to intervene.’
‘I am glad you contrived to restrain yourself. Do I have to tell you, Rapunzel, that war is not a pretty business? Think of the sights you and I have seen together and tell me I should not do everything in my power to make an end of it—if you can.’
She shivered. ‘Must you remind me? I try so hard to forget.’
He gave her a strange look. ‘There are some things, Sonia, which one ought not to forget.’
‘You want me to think about it? About Father! And Gretchen! I never told you about Gretchen, did I, Charles? Shall I? Shall I tell you?’ Her voice rose almost to a scream.
‘Careful. You’ll break something.’ He took a tray of glasses from her shaking hands. ‘I’m sorry, Sonia, I should not have said that. But—you must try to understand. Come the peace, I’ll be as punctilious as you please; till then—’
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